Basslover, from the sound of things it would appear that trespassing is an ongoing and continuous problem for you, based on the level of preparation you describe. I'm curious as to what your particular situation is, related to such high numbers of trespassers. Can you elaborate as to why you think it is you suffer such numerous incursions?
Quite the opposite, sprkplug. Not much at all really due to the remoteness of our pond and the lack of houses anywhere near it. However, there are ATV trails maybe 15 minutes away and people wander. They used to wander right down dockside. Up went cables and signs. That eliminated the overwhelming majority. And the trail cameras were installed.
Some traces of trespassers, but very few. But very few is not zero, and that is our goal. For one this is our land and no one but us pays the taxes on it. And everything that people enjoy about our land, the campsites, the shooting range, the dock, and the fish well we've done all the work and paid all the bills for that as well. Not much for free riders.
I've also an eye on poaching. My bass have RW ratios of 110% up through 125%. It is likely that a trespasser has zero knowledge of the time and money involved in our pond, and they're likely to just drop a line in and try to catch that "big fish" - because water clarity is such that if there's a bass within sight or they're cruising you'd be like "wow that's a big fish". And if you didn't have a rod/reel with you, you'd likely bring one next time you hit the trails. So I am also protective of "my fish". We do catch and release, barbless hooks only. Again, unlikely an unknowing trespasser would follow our "rules".
I have learned that recording encounters is the safest solution - from traffic stops to fender benders to trespassers. A lot of people behave differently when they're on tape. But also there is now a recording of what happened so it cannot be in question. When I hear the ATVs I stop whatever I'm doing, holster the sidearm, turn on the video recorder on the tele, and go to greet the trespassers.
